fscoles

Two mornings ago our '08 Uplander clicked and wouldn't turn over its starter (electric) motor, so to get it started I tapped on (like the "Fonze" would have done to fix an appliance or his motorcycle on "Happy Days" TV reruns) the engine compartment fuse box vigourously, since all of the important mechanical relays are there; as I knew the battery and all the ignition cables to the starting system are good and tight, and the charging system is good. Then two days later it happened again, relays clicked but no starter motor, and there was little to no battery drain as evidenced by the battery voltage reading 12.4VDC displayed both on my DMM & the console's DIC display. The 3 relays maybe having to do with this function (I thought) could be "RunRly","IgnMain", & "Crnk", so I swapped each of them in turn with "Wpr2" (or "Horn" relay could have been swapped) relay, and I found that the "Crnk" relay appears to be the culprit, as that is precisely its function, to produce cranking when you turn the ignition switch to "Start". I removed Crnk's cover and found nasty gunk on its NO (normally open contact, the one that it uses to engage the Starter's solenoid) so I cleaned it (by rubbing through the contacts a sliver cut from a crisp dollar bill which has the correct abrasiveness, soaked in electric cleaner spray) & have a replacement on order. "IgnMain" relay cannot be this problem because it controls a whole lot more circuits than this one problem, and "RunRly" has only two documented functions: 1) It sucks down immediately when the engine starts to stop the starter-motor from running in case one holds the ignition key in the "Start" position too long, to prevent stripping out the ring gears, and 2) it controls portions of the Heater & A/C controller circuits as documented in two other threads on this forum. So, I guess there's two points to remember here: 1) If your Uplander clicks & won't turn over, but if you know the battery & cables are good, then replace the "Crnk" relay, and 2) It's a good idea to carry in the emergency kit an extra relay, as they're only $6 each, as every relay in this box has the same part number, except for the two Headlamp relays, which are special higher-amperage relays.